3+1=4

Hey family!  Well, we are officially Dominicans again.  We arrived yesterday afternoon after an amazing month in the States.  It was a wonderful few weeks full of the rest, rejuvenation, some work, and time with family and friends.  Thank you all for making it so special for us. 

But I must say we are excited to be back.  We arrived to our home (yes, it truly is a home and I am grateful God has allowed us this beautiful place to call home).  Tati (Pastor Rivas' wife) and a few others cleaned the place before we got home so it was nice and dust free, bug free and spider free (minus the pesky mosquitos, I definitely did not miss those buggers).  I was not sure what it would have looked like after a month of being gone.  We visited the supermercado to get restocked on everything.  I love restocking as it is like starting fresh and new but I do not enjoy paying restocking prices (soap, toilet paper, diapers, wipes, food, cleaning products, etc.)  But I must say the most exciting part of our day was seeing our Dominican family again!  Raphael (one of our brothers) picked us up at the airport, we ran into Pastor Rivas and Tati at the supermercado, our neighbors stopped by and the kids ran up the hill to see us.  It was so special to hear them and see their excitement at our return.  J had the first meeting of 2014 with our AIM staff tonight.  It went great and he was so excited to share the future plans of AIM, camps, growths and everything in between.  The staff was pumped to hear about all the movement God has been planning for the Dominican.  J emphasized the importance of our team becoming teachers of coaches (rather than teachers of kids).  Lots of amazing things are happening and we get to be a part of this.  We are blessed beyond measure! 

And one more little tidbit to share with you all...
In case you are not aware, Aubrey is expecting a baby brother or sister in July!!  I am currently 14 weeks pregnant (past the nauseating and exhausting first trimester praise the Lord!).  So far everything is going great with the baby.  We are planning on having this baby in the States and my OB (who is awesome) already said it's not a problem as long as I'm back in July.  :)  We will keep you all updated on the family like we did in the first 4 months!  We thank you in advance for all your prayers, love and support.  Please let us know if there is anything you would like us to pray for.

With much love!!

Psalm 148

Praise the Lord from the heavens,

praise him in the heights above.

Praise him, all his angels,

praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon,

praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens

and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for he commanded and they were created.

He set them in place for ever and ever;

he gave a decree that will never pass away.

 

Praise the Lord from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

stormy winds that do his bidding,

you mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all cattle,

small creatures and flying birds,

kings of the earth and all nations,

you princes and all rulers on earth,

young men and maidens,

old men and children.

 

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

He has raised up for his people and horn,

the praise of all his saints,

of Israel, the people close to his heart.

 

Praise the Lord.



Spiritual Haze

Isn't it crazy how fast time can pass us by?!  I have been meaning to blog for the past 2 weeks and yet here I sit without a single post in quite some time.  I think it just goes to show how quickly we as humans can get sidetracked from our work to be done (in this case keeping up with a blog and sharing our life as missionaries even while in the States). 

Since the last post, things have been great.  Lots of visiting, eating (I must say I have now had my Whataburger fix and many other food items!), working, praying, family time and traveling.  When we first arrived back in the States, it was so easy to fall back into our "old life" and pattern.  But now 3 weeks later, we are missing the simplicity of life in the Dominican.  The easier nature of staying focused on God and His work to be completed.  We have so quickly fallen back into the television watching, football devouring, foodies we were before.  And don't get me wrong, there is nothing inherently wrong with this life IF you are following God's direction and path for you.  But for us as a family, this is not what God has called us to.  There are several things we miss in the States (family and friends aside) such as the ease of a washer and dryer without having to fill, drain, rinse, repeat and hang dry; the ease and let's face it enjoyment of fast food (I know, I swore I would never say that yet here I am); the driving conditions (no motorcycles cutting you off or taxis cutting the light...); the milk in the States (being a chocolate milk connoisseur the milk in the Dominican is just not the same, something I think you have to grow up on to like)...  I'm sure there are many other things we talk about "missing" while in the Dominican, but right now I am anticipating returning to our life that is dedicated and focused solely on God.  As I have said before, we are not spending every moment reading the Bible or praying or worshipping (in fact we need to spend more time doing all of this), but our life is just simpler.  One of the biggest blessings we have in the Dominican is no television.  Instead of being able to come home and "unwind" in front of the television, we are forced to "unwind" in each other's presence, talking with our brothers and sisters in Christ, playing outside with the kids from the neighborhood, spending time with our AIM staff, etc.  Although I do not know what God has in store for our future (where we will live, whether we return to the States, whether we move to another country...), I am grateful for the life change He has given us!  I pray we stay focused on His love and His work to be done.  I pray He continues to lay the path and we continue to follow Him in whatever direction that takes us. 

We are so blessed by each of you as you continue to pray for us along this journey.  As I have said (I think hundreds of times), thank you for your prayers!  Thank you for your love and support.  We are so blessed because this is not a journey we are taking alone but rather we have an entire team of support going along the path with us.  We love you all!!

 

"We can experience joy when we slow down just a little and take life in.  The more we slow down, the more we can see, feel, and hear life around us.  Each day, God is working all around us."

-Tim McDermott (KSBJ President)

Full of Love

We made it home safely... Praise the Lord!  For the most parts our flights were uneventful and on time.  God was watching over us through the entire process including customs and security, etc.  So, in case you haven't done this before I will explain a little bit of the process... (because I had never been out of the country before the Dominican and had no idea).

We board in the Dominican and I must say their security is by far the BEST I've ever been through (and by best I mean safest and most annoying).  They literally go through EVERY pocket of EVERY bag searching...  It's hard to know if they are looking for something dangerous or just looking for something that may need to be confiscated in their mind (you get my drift).  But, praise the Lord everything was great in this area.  I have to say the funniest part was when the guy pulled my eyelash curler from my makeup bag and looked at it quite confused and looked at us.  But nonetheless I was able to keep it!  After leaving the DR we fly to Miami as that is American Airlines international hub.  There you land and go through customs (present your passport a gajillion times), say where you were, why you were there, how long you were there...  Basically an interrogation.  And I'm such a nerd that I know the answers and we haven't done anything wrong but I start sweating... ummm, ummm in the Dominican...ummm we are missionaries...  Then you pick up your luggage (everything was accounted for) and go through another part of customs where you wait in line for a guy to again ask where you were, what have you been doing...  After passing through that area you head to the "connecting flights" and get in line to drop your checked luggage off (a very simple system that I'm not completely convinced of it's organization, but I must say all our pieces arrived including the car seat so who am I to judge) and head back through security.  God especially placed His hand in this area as the lady told us to go in the wheelchair, extra needs line (I guess because of Aubrey in the stroller) so we got to bypass a ton of people and probably 30-45 minutes of waiting in line (remember God cares about the red lights).  After passing through this security, we were free to cruise the airport for about 4 hours.  So we got ourselves a Spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's (I must say I had this preplanned for the airport!) and waited.  :)

So an amazing, busy day topped by our arrival in Houston when we were surprisingly greeted by the entire Arredondo clan (babies included!) at the airport.  Lots of good tears!  Followed by a trip to Whataburger at 12:30 in the morning. :)  There are no words to describe the emotions and excitement felt yesterday!  Thank you Lord for the blessing of family, both here in the States and in the DR.  We are so full of love right now!

"Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."  1 Peter 1:8

Chapter 1: An Introduction

I cannot believe it is December 14!  Tomorrow, we will have officially been living in the Dominican for 4 months... that seems so unbelievable.  There are times I sit back and think, "why us God, I don't understand how we were chosen?"  But then I count my blessings and rest assured knowing God knows exactly what has happened and what will happen in everything (and why He chose us).  As J has worded it several times, these 4 months have been chapter 1 in our story here.  And as chapter 1 comes to a close, we realize the majority of the work and our time has been focused on building relationships and organization.  Although we were blessed to move here with a Dominican family already known, we have been able to further build up those relationships and make new family members along the way.  For this week alone, we have had several "going away dinners" and a party last night with the lead members of the Christian Sports Association (the meetings J often attends and the organization where the coordinator position has been started).  It has been such an honor serving alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ in hopes of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ further. And when we return, I pray Chapter 2 will be titled Discipleship.  I cannot wait for Chapter 2 to begin and continue to watch the growth not only here in the Dominican, but in our family and friends back home and especially in ourselves.  Thank you God for this opportunity to love on your people!

Aubrey with some neighborhood friends.  She has reached the point that she does not want to stay with Mom and Dad but would rather go with her "friends".  She adores Rosemary and Ruben (some neighbors who live a few doors down) and it often takes quite a bit of convincing for her to come back home with us.

A view from the road on our drive back from Nagua.  It was a gorgeous drive with the ocean and the mountains... God is an amazing artist.

A picture of Fred, Brittney, J and our team in the Dominican (including our Cuba counterpart Rudy!).  It was a fantastic meeting!  (And no, J was not reading The Hungry Caterpillar during the meeting...). :)

A picture of a few more neighborhood friends.  These are our "regulars" and they wanted to surprise us with something.  It turned out they made an icing (very good and very sweet) and bought 2 individual cakes to put it on.  They surprised us (and our sugar ants) with this tasty treat.  This is them eating the remaining icing straight... wow!

 

Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.  Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.  Psalm 119:36-37

Our God is an awesome God

Happy Tuesday!  Wow, what a whirlwind of work, prayer, fun, meetings, traveling, and preaching this weekend was.  It was fantastic to have Fred, Brittney and the gang here visiting us and working alongside us.  We are so blessed to have an amazing team in the States (especially Brittney who keeps everything in line and moving forward) :).  It was hard sending them off yesterday at the airport, but exciting to know that in only a few days we will be making the same flight back. 

Probably one of the biggest lessons this weekend was a reminder of God's strength and ability to accomplish anything (if you simply let Him).  We traveled to a place called Las Terrenas to search out a possible new site for our summer camps and meet some of the local coaches and pastors.  However, due to miscommunication and "dropping some balls", we did not have any specific contacts in the area.  As you know, everyone involved in this adventure (with the exception of God) is new at this.  And from the outset, we knew mistakes would happen... welcome to being human!  That being said, it was an opportunity for us to learn a little more about communication between the DR and the States.  And at the same time, we knew that God had us there for a reason.  As we ventured out Sunday morning, we came across a basketball court (for those of you who have been to Sosua, many of the cities in the DR have the same Multiuso complex).  God showed up in a big way when we entered the court and there was a coach with 15 young ladies having a basketball practice.  Even more there was a baseball field next door, and sure enough local coaches were playing a softball game.  If that wasn't enough, one of the coaches guided us to a tournament being played in a small city 15 minutes away.  Then God placed the icing on the cake... not only did we meet people who know Checo (one of our AIM guys) from Sosua, but we also met coaches who were present at the FCA clinic held last March (which Fred and J and a few others attended).  That previous relationship led those coaches to tell us they were "at our service" for whatever work God has for us there.  Thank you God for reminding us that you are 100% in control of the ministry! 

You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations. 
Psalm 77:14

Extra prayers

Hey family!  I hope you are having a spectacular week so far.  Here in the DR we are extra excited as we anticipate the arrival of Fred (president of AIM), Brittney (our counterpart in the States for AIM and Fred's daughter), and 5 other people tomorrow!  We are pumped about them joining us for a whirlwind of work and fun over the next several days.  I wanted to ask for extra prayers this weekend during their time here as we hope to do a variety of outreach and discipleship with many local pastors, about 40 coaches we work alongside, some of the older boys who play in the sports leagues, and ultimately our AIM Dominican staff.  Weeks of work has poured into this time, and we are excited to watch God move mountains over the next 5 days! 

In other news, things are cruising along and some things coming to a close for the year...

We had our last day of ESL for Fall this past Saturday.  It was a blast and I am so proud to see some of the growth and dedication some people have taken to learning English.  Believe me, learning a new language is not easy, but I am excited to see the growth after Christmas and hopefully restart the second part of ESL with no Spanish spoken in class!!!

We got to use the new coordinator position this week for communication amongst the coaches!  We were spreading word about Fred's visit and the detailed information and thought what a great time to enact it and see how it goes.  So far I have yet to hear any negative comments or thoughts.  This is so exciting because the Dominicans are not known for their organization or foresight.  Therefore, they would simply have seen people on the streets and invited them or called a few of their friends.  We are thrilled to see what can come out of these coordinators including discipleship amongst the coaches.

This past Sunday at church, J was asked (randomly) to say something again.  It's times like that (when you have NOTHING prepared) that the Holy Spirit can truly speak through you.  He described our emotions before moving here to the DR.  It's like we were waiting in a line with 1000s of other people beside us and God came to us and said, "You.  You are the ones I'm sending to the Dominican."  And our response was one of complete awe and shock and gratitude to be given this opportunity.  J was able to emphasize that our being here is so much more a blessing to us than it could ever be to the Dominicans. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the prayers!  Our time here has been so much more fruitful because of our army we have at home praying for us.  In addition to the weekend prayers, please be praying for continued good health here especially among our AIM Dominican staff and their families.  There are so many battles being fought that it can often be overwhelming, but I remember that our God is bigger than any disease, any pain, any struggle, anything. 

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.  Deuteronomy 31:8

And one quick picture... this was taken about 2 weeks ago reading in the car.  It's so funny what kids watch and pick up on (for example the glasses on the head).  Apparently Mommy wears hers on her head most of the time.  And 1 billion bonus points for whoever can tell me what book this is...

Praise Report (be ready to smile)

One of the amazing blessings about being here on the ground is we get to do the "fun stuff".  Actually, I think all of the work is fun, but we get to be the literal hands and feet to spread the joy of love and show love.  For example, one of our sisters in Christ, Mercedes, has been a part of AIM for several years now.  She has an awesome testimony and has a deep relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.  She loves God with her entire being and is always sharing this love with her community and especially the children within the community.  However, the roof on her house was in horrible shape.  It did not cover the entire house, so you can imagine what happened every time it rained (and it rains pretty often here).  She had presented this struggle with us back in June, and we prayed about it, informed Fred and others, and kept praying.  This was something on our daily prayer list but God works in His own time, so we waited and prayed.  About 3 weeks ago, we received the phone call from Fred giving the glorious news that the funds were in and we could repair her roof!  Praise the Lord!  I must admit I wanted to sing and jump (in fact I'm pretty sure there was some rejoicing going on in our house) and I could not wait to tell Mercedes.  We made a special trip to see her the next day.  And I must say, she always gives powerful hugs (those backbreaking, heart wrenching type), but these hugs were pure and complete joy.  Pure bliss!  It was such a special moment to be able to explain to her that we were not doing this because she works with AIM and we were not doing this to get anything from her, but rather God had provided the needs and we were using those funds because she is a sister in Christ and because we love her.  Here are some pictures from before, during and after...  God is good ALL OF THE TIME!!

A picture looking into what should be the kitchen area.  Obviously there is a good deal of space not covered.

A picture of what should be a bedroom.

Another bedroom.  The plastic is there to protect everything from leaks when it rains.

The frame is up...

Another shot of the frame...looking good.

A picture of the finished work!!  This is the kitchen area covered and ready to use.  And look at the "Son" beaming in.

 

A picture of the bedroom that had no roof.  Mercedes was so excited she went and jumped on the bed! 

 

And just a shot of the beautiful work and finished roof. 

 

 

As I have continuously written on here, we could not be here without the support from all of you!  Thank you for allowing us this opportunity to share Christ's love with our brothers and sisters in the Dominican!

 

"Waiting on the Lord is the most active experience you may have in your life."

Pastor David from Bear Creek Baptist Church